154 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



cock has in this country given way to the more sports- 

 manlike method of shooting, and more especially since 

 efficient protection has been given to the birds in the 

 spring-time, some increase in the numbers of our 

 summer woodcock may be looked for. Whether the 

 numbers of our winter woodcock will similarly increase 

 is a matter probably largely dependent upon the tactics 

 pursued by sportsmen and others in the lands in which 

 these migrants are bred. If report speaks truly, the 

 eggs of the woodcock are there gathered for the table 

 in the same way as are plovers' eggs with us, and as this 

 is coupled with the extensive shooting of these birds 

 by Scandinavian gunners in the spring months, any 

 marked increase in the numbers of woodcock wintering 

 in this country cannot be expected. 



The woodcock is monogamous, the female usually 

 lays four eggs, and, with us at least, often rears two 

 broods in a season. The usual weight of the wood- 

 cock is about 12 oz., but some that are quite as heavy 

 as the average partridge are occasionally killed. The 

 length of this bird may be put down at 14 inches, or 

 a little more, and its wing-stretch at about two feet. 

 The sexes of the woodcock are scarcely to be distin- 

 guished, either from the size of the birds, or by the 

 coloration of their feathers. At various places along 

 the east coast, where I have frequently been shooting 

 at the period of the autumnal migration of these birds, 

 I find that some old residents hold the opinion that 

 two distinct races of woodcock reach our shores during 

 October and November, one a very red and small 

 woodcock, and the other a larger and lighter-coloured 

 bird. They asseverate, on what grounds I am unable 

 to say, that the former comes from the extreme north, 



